Friday, June 18, 2010

BEERS I RECOMMEND: HOP OTTIN IPA by ANDERSON VALLEY BREWING

in fact, i'm sipping an Anderson Valley Hop Ottin IPA (7% ABV, 80 IBUs) right now. lifting this glass towards oklahoma, toasting my old friend, mr. andrew botsford, who helped me cut my beer teeth on plenty of red stripe and rogue dead guy back in south kansas city. here's to the beauty of ya, sir. them were good and overdue chats tonight.

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these scratches about Hop Ottin in my little pocket ledger make no sense. i'll type them out exactly as i sketched them a few nights ago:

in this bottle, the aroma is hidden. with persistence, i smell the color red. funny, because the ale pours a dark orange with heavy white lacing. there maybe an aroma of hearty homemade bread. first sip: magically balanced. loads of "hard working hops" and a backbone of stiff malts. i'm thinking of anti-pesto on bruschetta the way this ale puts the floral and citrus forward, held on a firm bed of brown-crusted malts. this beer is a flipping side item! loads of bread! almost a rye flavor due to spiky hop flavors.

i'm not sure what half that jibberish means, but, as i'm sipping it again, i agree with myself about the heavy bread balance of malty heart and hyper hoppage. reminds me of what Jesus said about building your house on the rock: that joker'll stand. and this IPA stands on a multitude of tree-trunkish legs.

prepare for slow sipping on the Hop Ottin. due to the concreteness of flavor and the high alcohol, i would not recommend Hop Ottin for gushing refreshment or backporch lounging. Hop Ottin would pair really well with a good medium rare sirloin and a baked tater. maybe with a serious game of backgammon or a Robert Rodriguez film. i'd like to take it on a roadtrip: not to sip at the end, but along the way. there's longevity in this bottle.

I didn't even read the review...I'm just pissed that I didn't get my tail in gear to review this beer before you. This is the first beer I share with anyone who wants a good IPA. It is one of the few beers to score a 5 out of 5 on my prestigious list of brews. Now I will read the post.

some of the best things about this brew...you stroll into your local alcohol shop and there sits a wall of bombers begging to be bought...you start scanning the prices, and your excitment diminishes a bit. but you don't let it extinguish your fervor for finding a hoppy suds. what's this? a bear with antlers, hop ottin' is the name? a lot of questions to be answered in that bottle. 10 dollars says it cost 10 dollars. well, I can tell ya, where I buy it 3.99 will get it wrapped in a brown paper bag. can't be as good as all those bombers 3 times the price, but i saved some cash and i'm on my way home. (skip ahead)...screw those cocky micro brews that think their brew is worth as much as 20 diapers that i wrap on my boy's bottom. i'll drink this hop ottin' cause it's flavor chuckles at those other bombers on the shelf hanging out with their wine bottle prices displayed with the pride. (and not good pride)